Nazi Ahnenerbe Sturmtruppen At The Centre Of The Earth

SS-Kavallerie-Brigade Schäfer

The SS Ahnenerbe expedition to Tibet discovered a sacred cave that Buddhist Monks believed led to an underworld where the sacred city of Shambhala was located. The monks were persuaded to reveal the location of the cavern by Her Flick, a Gestapo agent spying on Himmler's Expedition for Goering.

The cave certainly opened into somewhere, a mysterious world inhabited by prehistoric monsters as detailed by Jules Verne in his supposed novel 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth'.

Local humans had domesticated a bipedal carnivore. The Stormtruppen seized various examples for study and a breeding program. Unfortunately, all the animals acquired were males, as indicated by the mating display on the head. Nevertheless they trained some to be SS-Kavallerie abd named their unit after the expedition leader, Dr Ernst Schäfer.

Trooper With Light Machine Gun

One soldier in each troop was armed with an MG 34. The mounts were surprisingly indifferent to gunfire.

An Unfortunate Confrontation

Alas, the expedition got lost in the complex of tunnels trying to reach the 'surface' and emerged in Afghanistan, only to find the world was not quite as they remember it.

Models by Eureka.

Review 7TV - Version II

Last night I played 7TV version II with Mik H. Neither of us had played before so we chose a simple introductory scenario.

The first think I noticed that in comparison to version I, it was so much quicker and easier to create a force from scratch. Boss Hoggs boys, headed by co-star leather-clad sadist Travis, took all of five minutes to create from the preprogrammed convenient cards - that incidentally have all relevant information written on.

Mik fielded Prof. Tweedy's vigilantes.

The game has been rewritten and cleaned out from the bottom up. All those fiddley counters that made 7TV such a pain to play are gone. Now you have but one action marker set that act as the resource control for everything. Another change (from what I remember of the old game) is that you feed these markers in as you decide to use them during the turn.

The new game most closely resembles Batman, in that it is a resource-controlled skirmish game. However, Batman involves setting up resource counters onto a control board at the start of each turn rather like a Star Trek battle - "more power to the shields Scotty". 7TV II just feeds them in as they are used and no control board is necessary.

This makes t7TV more fluid, faster, and more in keeping with a TV show.

The end of the game. Boss Hogg and Travis expended their cheap minions freely and took out all Tweedy's people.


I always loved the idea of 7TV but disliked the execution. Version II is better in every way. It's more like a new game than a reboot.

Loved it: Highly recommended.

My thanks to Mik for teaching me the rules.

Knight Models - The Riddler

DC comics go way back into my past so, although I'm not a great fan of the Batman Miniature Game, I love their models - especially the super-villains.

Wonderfully evocative model of the Riddler.

Bond Villain Minions

Secret base to dominate the world in an extinct volcano, check, so what does the aspiring Bond Villain need next? Why minions of course, preferably with machine pistols and bright clothes to make them easy targets for when Bond arrives.

Another batch from 7TV.

Herr Arnold Toht of the Gestapo

This group of figures is sold by Artizan under the title Enemy Agents.

It is of course Herr Toht of the SS Ahnenerbe, who memorably clashed with Indiana Jones in the hunt for the Lost Arc.

Herr Toht was of course the mentor Herr Otto Flick of the Gestapo, godson of Heinrich Himmler.

The first model I received from North Star was very deformed. Right before Xmas, in what must be their busiest time of the year, Nick at North Star arranged for a replacement to be delivered immediately.

First Class customer service, North Star!

Review - Bolt Action Kriegsmarines

First impressions of the models when you open the box are very favourable. The moulds are clean with  little in the way of flash or seam lines. The poses are fixed, as you might expect with metal models but the heads are interchangeable so can be posed.

The section represents the period at the end of WWII when German naval personnel were thrown into battle as makeshift infantry, usually with minimal training.

The figures below were painted by me using a modified version of Warlord Games' Army Painter method so I think show what a wargamer of average ability could achieve with these models in a reasonable time.

First up is the squad leader. I painted him as a U-Boat Kapitän, hence the white hat. He is in British khaki battledress. I came across a reference to the Germans using British battledress captured at Dunkirk for their U-Boat crews. The red scarf reflects the devil-may care nature of the
Unterseeboot Seemann. I used the head with a cigar as befits a buccaneer.

I'm very pleased with this figure. He is full of character and would do well in any pulp fiction game set in the mid twentieth century - Lost World islands in the Antarctic and so on.

The Spandau machine gun team is painted in a mixture of Kriegsmarine uniforms on a Battle for Berlin - type metal base. They don't really know what they are doing so have the gun propped up rather precariously on some sandbags.

Another great figure, very dynamically posed in the act of chucking a stick grenade. I have given him a Heer helmet painted in summer camo colours to add to the ad hoc feel of the squad.

 Some ordinary bods with rifles.

Section second in command with SMG in naval greys.

The whole squad.

At £15, only £1.50 each, these metal figures are great value for money. The poses are terrific and atmospheric and they have a nice mix of weapons.

They are designed for Berlin '45 type games but I can see them featuring in all sorts of pulp fiction stuff. They just the blokes to get in Indiana Jones' way or fight dinosaurs - they have panzerfausts!

Highly recommended.

Beasts: Early 'Elephant'

A resin model of an early elephantiforme from the family Gomphothereidae.

Gomphothereidae were around from the Oligocaene to the Pliocaene and were the first of the elephant ancestors to look like an elephant. They weren't quite as big as later elephatiformes but  Palaeomastodon, below, stood about two metres tall.

These ancient mammals are very suitable for pulp and steampunk games and make a welcome change from dinosaurs. They also look good in SF and Fantasy games.

Planet of the Apaes

And what are the 7TV people up to now?

Hydra Galacteers

More 28 mil models from Hydra. These are a pack of Galacteers and a Galacteer heavy weapon trooper.

I decided to paint them in bright 'comic' colours as befits pulp star troopers.

I really like these models. They are pricey in the UK as imports but, I think, worth it. I will probably get some more in the new year.

Giant Killer Robot

I am a sucker for Flash Gordon/ Dan Dare pulp SF stuff so I was instantly drawn to the Retro-Rayguns range from Hydra Miniatures available in the Uk from Wargames Emporium.

I tried a new technique with the base of my Giant Killer Robot. I covered it in Tamiya textured paint, pavement effect, and sparingly sprinkled synthetic snow and chalk chips on to give a moon surface effect.

The robotwas sprayed with Humbrol metallic brass which is exactly the same tone as the old Citadel Shining Gold. Very useful for touching up after washing with Citadel brown.

Selenite

The sun rose slowly on another long day. Crystal showers of frozen air fell gently, sublimed upwards under the sun's rays, only to refreeze and fall again. Fine snow littered the surface like baking sugar, lending the splintered landscape a surreal beauty. This was a place of dialectical extremes, of hot and cold, of light and dark and of stone and dust.
The only splash of colour came from Sarah's multiple reflections in the viewing port. Convention decreed that her long dress and tailored jacket be Royal Navy blue, her blouse cream, but she was allowed to express some individuality in a neck tie and the band around her straw hat. She elected to wear a defiant red.
Sarah was too keyed up to enjoy the bleak landscape. She gazed out of the porthole, lost in her thoughts, disinterested in the view.
"Ma'am?" a piping voice sounded behind her.
She turned, moving carefully so that her skirt would not fly up.
A boy in a midshipman's uniform half made a salute then thought better of it.
"Is that your sea trunk, ma'am?"
She nodded in assent and he clicked his fingers at the porters. Two Selenites scuttled forward, sharp claws tapping on the stone floor. Like all lunar natives, they were six limbed but their exoskeleton was without the tripartite division that characterised the insect body. The size of a large dog, they stood mostly on four legs so that their front claws could be used as hands. The Queen Below bred them for Port Bedford's use as part of the Co-operation Pact with the British Empire. A not unpleasant wet-straw smell drifted off the creatures as they grappled with her luggage.
"The captain presents his compliments, ma'am, and asks you to accompany me to the ship."
"Thank you," she said. "Lead on."
They made a strange crocodile through the narrow corridors, the midshipman in front, her behind, and the Selenites bringing up the rear. Convention decreed that they should walk in single file on the right. This necessitated one of the Selenites walking backwards, something that seemed to discommode him not at all. She thought of the Selenite as "him," though "it" was probably a more accurate pronoun for a sterile worker.


Storming Hell by John Lambshead (opening paragraphs)

7T - James Bond Villains

Every hero needs an evil mastermind to fight against so I give you Ernst Stavro Blofeld and Dr No of the private enterprise SPECTRE, the Special Executive for Counter-Intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion. Fleming was hugely ahead of his time with SPECTRE, which has now become the business model for most of our large corporations, with the obvious exception that SPECTRE did not tolerate failure in its leadership while global corporations reward it.

Never trust a SPECTRE man.

Pulp Death Ray

The Science Fiction Death Ray, as in The war of the Worlds, has a long and ignoble history in pulp fiction and an even more ignoble history in the real world. In the interway years, a variety of dodgy inventors in various countries sought to sell death rays, indeed the concept was reserected during Reagan's Staw Wars period, with the usual result - they don't freaking work!

The idea wasn't utterly useless as it pushed real research into such useful technologies as radar and lasers, but neither could be considered a death ray.

However no pulp game player should be without a mad inventor's death ray, so this is mine, kitbashed from two manufacturers.

Any idea, anyone?

Ripping Yarns

As a child of the 50s, I have a nostalgic fondness for Ripping Yarn type stories such as filled my schoolboy comics.

The very nice chaps at Warm Acre sent me these for free by way of an apology after a minor posting error, which was jolly decent of them.

Meet the Twingo twins, feared heroines of the SOE, who set the continent ablaze, to use Churchill's words - which, in general, are better than mine.

Nazi Zombie Troopers

 I have finally painted my Nazi Zombie Troopers from Studio Miniatures:

They compare quite well to the metal West Wind Nazi Zombies, not as crisp perhaps, particularly in facial features but hell, they are walking rotten corpses. I used Army Painter Dark Tone resin to give a quick finish, as usual, applied with a brush, not dipped.

I have discovered a great free Nazi Zombie game on the internet - more about that later.

Clone Three and Fräulein Ferronicker

More loot from Salute - sorry, I could not resist the alliteration.

Let me introduce you to some loyal residents of Argentina, Clone Three and Fräulein Ferronicker. Clone Three is holding the magical Spear of Longinus, or at least one of them. Five are known and that does not include the one buried under the hill at Glastonbury or the one in the possession of the Pentagon.

Beauty and the Bot - Studio McVey

One reason that Iwill never be a great painter (apart from my lack of any artistic skill) is because I lack patience. I bought this Limited Edition model from Studio McVey at Salute on Saturday. I just had to paint it immediately Sunday.

"I want it and I want it now - or I'll scream and I'll scream until I'm sick." Violet Elizabeth Bott.

For some reason that I did not immediately recognise, it sang to me. More about that later. Mike McVey, a nice guy by the way, told me that it has not sold well.

Astonishing!

It is limited to 750 casts and I got No. 175 so there are quite a few left.


The girl is wonderfully sculpted. I wish I could do her justice.

The model was sculpted by Yannick Hennebo, from a concept by Christophe Madura.


Or should that be conceived by MGM from an original idea by William Shakespeare?

Now I know why I just had to have this model.

Forbidden Planet, one of the greatest Space Opera movies of all time, was released in 1956. Was it really that long ago, sigh?

The beautiful long-legged Anne Francis died this year of cancer in Santa Barbara, California. She was eighty. She was a successful actress, too good looking to be valued in Hollywood for her thespian abilities, appearing in many movies and TV shows, notably Honey West.

But for me, she will always be Altaira 'Alta' Mobius, the archetype mad scientist's beautiful daughter.

As long as men and women value high adventure and beautiful girls, the United Planet Starship C57D will take the long flight to Altair, to Alta and Robbie.


Forbidden planet lives on in theatre in England in Return to the Forbidden Planet - a rock Space Opera. I have the CD and saw the production in Bromley some years ago.

I wonder what The Bard would have thought of it.

Model available from Studio McVey for about twenty quid.

Highly Recommended!

Perverted Science

"Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fall, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. "

Winston Churchill

Waffen SS Zombie Nazi Suicide Bombers

Now how about that for a blog title.

Go on, admit it, admit you want some Waffen SS Zombie Nazi Suicide Bombers for your very own.

Models are from Westwind Productions. Painting technique was to highlight and then cover in Army Painter medium varnish, finaly with a light covering of Vallejo matt varnish to take the edge off the shine.

For those that car about such things, they were photographed in bright sunshine using a hand-held Nikon D60 set to macro.

Alien Hunter Teams

Alien Bounty Hunter Team. One has the tracker (tricorder?), one a ray gun, and the other a heavy ray gun. These are Reaper figures and look wonderfully alien. They have obviously stepped straight out of the saucer as they are still in space suits.


Another Alien Bounty Hunter Team, from Fenryl this time. Fenryl resin miniatures are great but they come with the base as part of the miniature. This is intensely annoying as I generaly have to cut them off. This time I mangled the foot of one of the models, so I made him a peg-leg.

I use a Nikon SLR with an antishake lens to take the photos. Where possible, I use natural light. Up here on the roof of the world the sun is very low on the horizon and we only get a few hours of feeble daylight a day. I took these pics using a one second exposure. I stood in front of the sun so the models were in my shadow.

The pic below shows what it looks like in direct sunlight. The light has to pass through a thick blanket of air to reach Kent in Winter; air that is polluted by the activity of the 22,000,000 people who live in the London region. The result is very pastel light.